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Strong Soul's cabin on the Rose felt larger and more ornate than anything she'd ever experienced. She remembered her Father's house when she was living under the dome and how she thought his home opulent by most standards. While he cared for the Mrr'tani under his care, he was like most humans, providing them comfort but never luxury. At the time, she'd never questioned it. The Mrr'tani were merely his property, and though he cared for them as one might care for the most useful tools in the shed, there was little thought given to their overall happiness other than ensuring that none of them wanted for any of their basic needs. Even Strong Soul never questioned her place.

This, however, this was luxury, and she began to understand more about the humans than she ever had before. From the moment she walked through the hatch to her new quarters, she couldn't shake the sense of guilt that she was allowed such space and such privacy. After so long on the Pride where there were now so many packed into so little living space, and on Mss'delai, where bunks were a normal part of life, there was something nearly sinful about where she now was. And the worst part was that she knew she could never refuse it. No matter how spoiled or out of touch it made her feel, she was stuck with it. The others saw it as her due, even though she was one of the ones who was sitting safe and sound outside the battle while others risked, and still others gave, their lives in the fight to control the Rose.

"It's too much," she said softly as she walked inside, taking in the spacious cabin, carpeted in a rich blue pile, with the trappings of wealth and prosperity on the walls. Thankfully, the others had come through and taken the paintings and other artwork off the walls. She'd had a glimpse before as she made her way to the bridge, and what she saw horrified her. Even with only the briefest of looks, she knew more about the captain and the way his life had ended than she ever thought she would. It was no wonder why Melissa had reacted the way that she had.

"To them, it's not nearly enough, love," Night Star replied, his voice just as soft and gentle. He knew exactly what she was feeling, for she was nearly joined with him now. She knew he could feel her emotions as his own, though should he choose, he could block them out and not feel them at all. That was the talent of the Voids.

She just shook her head and continued looking closer at her surroundings. She hated to admit that in some respects, the captain had shared some of her tastes, as indicated by the antique writing desk near the bed. It was well-organized, and old style paper and a bottle of ink with a nearly ancient fountain pen sat on the rough hewn surface. The bed reminded her of the one she'd spent so many nights on in the cottage under the dome. It didn't help the image that the bedclothes had been changed and her quilt from her quarters aboard the Pride lay atop it. She turned quickly away before the ache in her throat gave way to something she couldn't hide from anyone.

"Love, you're going to have to get used to the fact that the Mrr'tani love you for what you've done."

"And what have I done, besides getting them killed?" she asked, her tone sharper than she wanted. She eased it down before she continued, this time much more gentle. "I've taken them on some holy quest because I got swept up in this thought that they instilled that I'm some messiah or something, and now there's a hundred and twelve fewer of us. And that's because of me."

"You honestly think that there wouldn't have been deaths if you came along?" Night Star said, his voice getting harsher with every word. "You heard Firebreather. There's an acceptable percentage of Mrr'tani who aren't even expected to come home from every single cruise. Do you think that they would still be living now if you'd stayed at home?"

The tone of his voice and the way that he looked at her, combined with the acrid taste of his emotions across the Mrr'ouwff was almost like a slap across the face. It hit her hard enough to give her pause and without a thought, she sat nearly straight down onto the edge of the bed.

"But they wouldn't have died following me," she said quietly, not able to meet his eyes. That lump was back in her throat once again, and this time it was harder to push it down, took more of her focus, and it still didn't want to go away.

"These Mrr'tani would rather die following you than live another moment in the life they were in, love," Night Star said, sitting next to her and gently enfolding her in his arms. "You know that, I know you do because I've felt it through you."

"I wish I could stop feeling everything. I wish I could not know what they were thinking, how they were feeling. I don't want to know how much they worship me."

She turned herself into Night Star's body, laying her head against his chest, hearing his heartbeat against her face, feeling his warmth against her muzzle. Slowly, the links began to fade, little by little pushing back to the very back of her mind until eventually they began to wink out, leaving only silence in their wake.

A part of her cried out in fear and alarm. She didn't want to be alone. But another part of her, the part she thought she'd left behind under the dome when she'd crossed the boarding ramp into the pride, that part welcomed the silence, the loneliness. As more and more of the Mrr'ouwffi were snuffed out by the veil of silence that Night Star brought over her, she had nothing left to draw on and the tears began to fall, dampening the fur at either side of her muzzle and darkening the already dark tunic that Night Star wore.

She knew the effort that it took, and for the first time, she realized just what a gift Night Star had to be able to silence the number of links that were joined to her, but he did it. Finally, after so much effort and she didn't know how much time, there was no one in her head but her and Night Star. Even Stargazer and the other Frr'a'narr'ahn were gone. She was left with only her voice where there used to be hundreds, and she could finally hear everything around her, she could understand her own thoughts. And all she could do was hold on to Night Star and sob.

He said nothing as he held her close to her, his strong arms surrounding her just as securely as the blanket of his mind, holding her tight against everything as she let herself feel everything she'd been trying to hide. What would the Mrr'tani think to know that she was so weak? She couldn't let them see her or feel this weakness, for it wasn't merely her own life that she was entrusted with any longer, it was the lives of those who followed her and did as she told them.

The touch of Night Star's hand to her head brought another wave of tears and she turned her head into his paw as he stroked her head, and beneath everything, his voice sang quietly as his lips brushed the side of her ear. It was a song that she'd not heard in what seemed like forever. Had it not even been a full turn of the seasons since she left Airgidbaile? The last she'd heard the song that was on Night Star's lips, it had been in the voice of the one she honored today. It was Rose's song, the one she hummed under her breath or sang when she thought no one was listening.

The words were foreign to her save for a few, the language of the Mrr'tani nearly dead, but they didn't matte nearly so much as the emotion and the feeling behind them. She'd never felt the song before, only heard the words, words that none could translate and none could explain. But now, with them in the voice of her lover, she could feel the story behind them.

They spoke of a journey of a small group of Mrr'tani, those who had been separated from their clan. They wandered the plains of the Mrr'tani homeworld, each from a different tribe, each with their own unique view of the world, shaped and guided by their tribe. Yet even as different as their views were, they all shared bits and pieces, enough that even though they were from different clans, they could travel together and cooperate, though they could not touch each other's minds as they could with their clanmates.

Through their journey, the ached for the touch of their Frr'a'narr'ah, each of them grieving in a different way, for at some point they had become lost to the Mrr'ouwffi and there was nothing but silence in their minds, the first of their kind to feel the loneliness of that separation. It happened at the climax of the song that they came across a kitten, a young Mrr'tanah, hidden away in a secret place on the plains, with no sign of any others around her. Together they cared for her, they nurtured her, making a home for themselves and the child, each taking a share in its care. It was clear that the kit would be a Frr'a'narr'ah, for they could already feel her touching their minds even as young as she was.

When the child grew, and finally awakened, they felt the joining once again, and they rejoiced at it, for they had thought it lost forever, but this was different. None had ever touched the mind of another clan member before, and with a clarity that had never been felt before, they could sense each other. Little by little, the child grew, in both size and power, though the band never left their secret place on the plains. They had no need of it, for they began to touch the mind of every other Mrr'tani on the planet. And so they lived, away from their kind, but connected in a way that had never been felt before, and would never be felt again.

"...Except for now, love. Except for what you've given them," Night Star said softly, cradling her head in the cook of his arm.

Her tears were long finished by the end of the song, though the fur on her muzzle was still damp. The song brought back so many memories, only half of them hers. They were memories from other times, though they were as clear to her as the memories of her friend Rose. She could smell her bread baking in the oven, feel the hard, rough wood of her favorite table beneath her fingers, but alongside that, she smelled unfamiliar things, meats roasting on open fires, the musk of fur and bodies pressed too tightly around too small a space, the touch of fur against fur, crowding about her mind and her body, pressing in against her in a warm and stifling closeness. But it didn't concern her at all. The others were there in joyous celebration. There were so many of them, and with a deep breath, she could tell that every single one was female.

The press of minds was so familiar to her that it took her little time to place it. The links that were formed within each of them tasted the same as the ones that flowed in her mind. They were the same, and they felt like home, even though they belonged to others. Behind her, a familiar voice sounded in her ear.

"You are not surprised?" Catcher of Souls asked.

Strong Soul shook her head and let a small smile turn the corners of her muzzle up as she let the moving wave of fur sweep her along with it.

"No," she answered. "I suppose I knew all along. This is them, isn't it?"

"The Frr'a'tan'lass'i'ahn," Catcher said with a mental caress. "The Mothers of the Mothers, stretching back to the beginning of time. Or at least the beginning of our time."

"Legends," Strong Soul said simply.

"No, Keeper. Truths. The central truth of the Mrr'tani. We have always been here. There has always been a Frr'a'tan'lass'i'ah as long as there have been Mrr'tani. And each that passes leaves behind their imprint upon the next. It is the way of our lives."

"But they don't speak."

"No, I have never known them to, and in time, I suppose that I will grow silent as well. Their wisdom comes when it is needed, though you must be willing to look for it. You must be open to hearing it."

"What do I do, Catcher?" Strong Soul asked. "I need your help."

"Mine is not the help that you need, Keeper of Hearts," Catcher said. "You already know the path. Your feet are upon it, and you are walking it."

Catcher of Souls smiled at her, the image growing quieter and dimmer.

"The help you need you already have. You have more than I could ever have dreamed. You need only ask, and they will answer."

"Who? Where?"

"You already know the answer, my child. For it is you who are the Keeper of Hearts."

With that, the image faded and she fell back to her own body, still held tightly in Night Star's arms.

"What was that, love?" he asked, his voice filled with awe and wonder, breathy in her ear.

"It was just what I needed."

She reached up, put her hands on his arms and gently took a step away, unfolding her from his embrace. Then she looked into his eyes, the deep color of his irises threatening to consume her with every second she stared.

"Night Star, Frr'a'narr'ou of the Mountain clan, by choice and not by birth," she said, her voice deepening with the formal tone, "You are mine just as I am yours. We have journeyed together and we have seen many things. We have loved and we have lost, but always we have done it together. You are more than a Frr'a'narr'ou, and you are the one I choose for my mate, should you have me. Together we will accomplish the impossible, or we will give our lives trying. Will you join me? Will you be my companion and my partner?"

"You know you never have to ask, love. I will go where you go and I will always be beside you, no matter the journey and no matter the cost."

Night Star smiled softly and slowly sunk down until one knee touched the ground, then the other, bowing his head. In any other, she would have felt the weight of the responsibility and the embarrassment that one would bow to her, but here, in this place, this was right.

"I am yours as you are mine, Keeper of Hearts."

"Then stand with me, Night Star, Bringer of Silence, my protector and my love, until the end of time."

Bringer of Silence stood and took both of her hands in his, holding her eyes with his gaze.

"I will stand with you, Strong Soul, the Keeper of Hearts, until time is no more."

They stood there for long enough that Strong Soul lost the count of time completely, the moment stretching longer and longer, until she felt she could live in it forever, that one moment encompassing lifetimes for both of them. The touch of his mind to hers grew and flourished in that moment, finding new connections, until there was hardly a wall between them, their thoughts crossing freely across each mind, their feelings their own, but with nothing that could be hidden, no way to shut the link, even if they'd wanted to. Finally, though, the world was moving around them once again, and as the sound and the scents of the ship faded back into their awareness, their newfound connection didn't fade.

"Come, my love," she said softly, "there is work to do."